Where Loyalty Lies (35 page)

Slowly I leaned forwards and pulled the book off the table and onto my lap. It was bound in black leather. The title in gold scripted letters was simple,
The History of Half-Breeds
. With a long shaky breath I opened the cover and started to read.

I read it cover to cover and when I’d finished I placed it back on the coffee table. It had been as I’d expected. The half-breed issue had never been a problem in the earliest vampire times because, when a human woman carried a vampire’s offspring, the pregnancy was always complicated and either ended in miscarriage or with both the mother and child dying during the birth. But by the early 1800s there had been a large advancement in medicines and so The Sénat started to worry about this problem and took it upon themselves to create a law that forbade any vampire from making a human woman pregnant. This law was apparently created because there was no way of knowing what the children would grow up to be like, if they survived, and whether they’d become unwanted competition to the vampire world. It was impossible for female vampires to fall pregnant as their reproductive organs no longer worked as they should.

The punishment for a male vampire who did get a human female pregnant was death and the woman was either Influenced into having an abortion or, if she was too far along for that, the mother and child were both killed in some way that was made to look like an accident to the unknowing human world. The threat of death was usually enough to make sure that the vampires kept to the laws, but there were occasional uprisings, like the illustrated one in 1835. These were rebellions against the law as many vampires considered it to be unfair; they wanted to be able to create their own line, which would give them much more power. In these cases, The Sénat had discovered the whereabouts of the families concerned and had sent groups of enforcers to kill all the women and children.

A semblance of compassion seemed to have touched The Sénat in 1904 because they’d made a small change to the law. Now, if a pregnancy was too well advanced to be aborted, the mother and baby would be taken away from the human world and would live in one of the vampire bases. Once there, the baby would be under constant supervision and would undergo tests to determine if they could be classed as a vampire or a human.

This situation had never occurred, though, because when The Sénat had changed the law, a group of vampires who disputed the change had risen up and decided to take the law into their own hands. This group was called ‘Incorruptus’ and their true identities were unknown. They took on the old role of the enforcers and somehow managed to locate every half-breed and kill them before The Sénat could even find them. Not much was known about Incorruptus and the secrecy of their group meant that The Sénat had never been able to put a stop to their law-breaking.

Knowing what I did about The Sénat and the entire vampire race, I was willing to bet that there wasn’t a whole lot of effort being put into stopping Incorruptus. In fact it probably suited The Sénat perfectly as they’d been able to change the law, making themselves appear accepting and considerate but, thanks to Incorruptus, they’d never actually had to bother with the hassle of dealing with a half-breed. Until me.

Feeling the need to move, I got up and started the shower, waiting until the glass was steamed over before I stepped under the spray of water. My joints and muscles were stiff from staying still for so long and I let the warm water work its magic on my body. However,  it could do nothing to stop the mess in my mind.

Frenzied thoughts kept coming back to me. The first was the question of the first part of my life. I’d often wondered what the circumstances had been that had led to me being deserted as a baby and I wondered if my parents had deliberately left me on Mary’s doorstep. Anytime I'd ever mentioned my parents to Mary, she'd scolded me. She told me that they'd been irresponsible enough to create a baby that they were either incapable or unconcerned about looking after and so I shouldn't waste my time thinking about them. But now all I could think was that maybe my parents had cared about me. Maybe the only reason they'd left me with Mary is because they'd hoped that I’d avoid detection from both Incorruptus and The Sénat. They’d wanted me to grow up having an ordinary life. I also had to rethink that night three years ago. It was no longer a mystery as to why that vampire had tried to kill me. He’d been a member of Incorruptus and he’d wanted to rid the world of another half-breed.

Another thing that bothered me seemed a lot more sinister. As soon as I’d read that it had been the enforcers that had murdered so many half-breeds, something inside me had frozen in fear. The hot water running down my skin was doing nothing to thaw it out. Holt had been an enforcer, and Henry and Saul still were.

I couldn’t imagine that any of them would have done something so terrible. I’d heard all three of them talk of assignments they’d completed as enforcers. I knew they’d killed vampires who’d broken the law, so was it really that far-fetched to think the worst?

When I was dry and dressed I sat on the edge of my bed. I had a whole new understanding of the tests I was being put through. It seemed the results could have a huge effect on my life. If it was decided that I was more vampire than human, I’d be expected to live their life and abide by their laws, whether I agreed with them or not. If they thought I was more human, Holt had said they’d probably want me to stay at Rillith until they knew I could be trusted not to tell anyone what I knew. Now I understood that The Sénat knew full well that I was a half-breed; they were just trying to make me seem too human to be called a vampire. They didn’t want the embarrassment of a half-breed at Rillith. Holt, Henry and Saul had known exactly what The Sénat were up to and still they hadn’t thought to fill me in.

What was even more worrying was that now my story was out there. I doubted there was a single vampire that hadn’t heard about the half-breed living at Rillith and that meant Incorruptus also knew of me. It didn’t matter what The Sénat decided I was, I would always be a walking target. Incorruptus would always be out to get me and now they knew exactly where I was.

A glance out of the window told me I’d lost a whole day and night and it was Friday morning. I couldn’t bring myself to do anything. What I really needed was a friend but the sad fact was that I’d just lost three of my friends in one moment. I reached for my mobile. Yes, Dale was the only friend I had left but he was also exactly the company I needed. I was sick of vampires and Dale’s cheerful face was just what I wanted to see. It was too early to ring, I didn’t want to wake him, so I sent a text saying that I could really use him right now and then I waited.

Not half an hour had gone by when the intercom at my living room door buzzed. I scowled thinking it would be Saul but then I heard Dale’s voice coming though the crackly speaker.

“Room service.”

I rushed to the door and opened it to see Dale on the other side standing next to a trolley packed with silver platters with domed lids. I ushered him inside, trying to smile. He grinned back but then stopped as he took in my appearance. I hadn’t looked in a mirror but I was betting I looked rough.

“You’ve been crying,” he said.

I tried to shrug it off but all my thoughts came crashing onto me again and the corners of my mouth started to tug down. Before I could stop myself, I burst into tears. It seemed my break in the shower had given my tear ducts time to refill. Dale’s arms were round me in an instant and I slumped against him, relieved that I could finally take comfort from someone who was offering it.

Dale didn’t ask questions, he just stood holding me until I’d managed to get a grip of myself. Eventually I lifted my head from his shoulder and looked at him.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have woken you up just so I could soak your T-shirt.”

Dale glanced down at the wet patch that was now on the shoulder of his Led Zeppelin shirt and shrugged.

“It’s okay, it’ll dry.” He looked me over again. “Besides I’m more worried about you right now. You look like shit.”

I laughed at Dale’s brutal honesty.

“Aw, come on now, Dale, you don’t have to go saying nice things about me just to cheer me up.”

Dale smiled at my feeble attempt at a joke but he didn’t lose his seriousness.

“Sit down,” he ordered. “You look like you need something to eat.” I grimaced but before I could object Dale continued, “I have a whole trolley of food here that will only go to waste if you don’t eat it.”

Dale listed what was on the trolley, which was pretty much every breakfast option you could imagine, and then handed me my choice of pancakes and syrup. He filled a glass with orange juice and placed it on the coffee table in front of me. As he did, he noticed the book and after reading the title he looked at me in surprise.

“I take it this is the cause of the waterworks.”

I nodded.

“Do you mind if I take a look?”

As he flicked through the pages, I watched him to see what his reaction would be. His brow furrowed as he flicked through and read passages here and there but, when he got to the double page picture, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

I could tell by the concern in his eyes that he wasn’t sure how to proceed, so I told him everything – how Monique had given me the book, about my screaming at Holt, Henry and Saul and then my marathon reading and crying session. We both picked at the food while I talked and, by the time I’d finished, Dale had regained his composure.                             

“You’re right to be upset, Faine. This half-breed shit is barbaric and you should have been told. It’s given you information that has not only helped you understand things from your past but has changed things in your future. No matter what the reason, it’s nobody else’s right to decide what you should or shouldn’t know, not when it comes to stuff like this.”

I closed my eyes in relief. I knew I could have handled the whole thing with a hell of a lot more dignity, but it was so good to hear somebody agree with me.

“Right, that’s the food down, now it’s time you got some sleep,” Dale said.

I opened my eyes. “No, I’m not tired.”

“I don’t buy that for a second.”

Dale stood up, pulled me out of my chair and ushered me into the bedroom.

“Dale, I...” I’d wanted to say I just couldn’t face going to sleep. I was scared of what images would fill my head when I closed my eyes. But I couldn’t bring myself to say that out loud.

Dale seemed to guess what I was thinking because his gaze softened. “It’s okay,” he said. “Come on.”

I let him gently push me onto the bed and then he climbed up and lay back next to me.

“If you’re not tired, then we’ll just sit here for a while and you can listen while I tell you what I’ve been up to for the last couple of days.”

I knew what he was doing and it worked. As he recited the long list of work he’d done and the girls he’d chatted up, my eyes closed and I sank into sleep.

I woke to the sound of raised voices. Saul’s and Dale’s. I sat up in bed and the memories of the last twenty-four hours came flooding back. I slid off the bed and walked to the closed bedroom door.

“I’m not telling you again; get out of the way before I cause you some serious damage.” That was Saul.

“And I’m not telling you again; she doesn’t want to see you so why don’t you just piss off!”

“And what the hell does any of this have to do with you?” Saul asked. “I’m here to speak to Faine and, if she doesn’t want to see me, she can tell me herself.”

I shot a longing look at the bed, wishing I could crawl back into it but I knew it wasn’t right to leave Dale out there to deal with Saul. I opened the door and almost crashed into Dale who was standing just the other side of it with his back to me. I put a gentle hand on his arm to let him know I was there and he turned to face me. His hair was all messed up from where he’d been lying on the bed. I was sure mine was too and I knew what it must look like. Saul’s face confirmed my assumption. His now black eyes darted back and forth between our hair and our rumpled clothes before settling on my hand on the back of Dale’s arm. I was about to explain when I realised it was none of Saul’s business anyway. Instead, I dropped my hand and ran my fingers through my tangled hair.

“Well I’m here now, so you can listen to me when I tell you that I don’t want to speak to you,” I said, pleased with the calmness that seemed to have come with sleep. There would be no more screaming fits, from now on I’d be level-headed and serene. Hopefully.

Saul’s jaw clenched. “Look, I understand why you don’t want to see me, but we should talk so I can explain everything.”

“Oh, but I already know everything,” I said. “I know about the law to kill half-breeds, how it was altered in 1904 and all about Incorruptus, which means I also know why a vampire tried to kill me three years ago and why I’m the first half-vampire ever to be brought to The Sénat.”

Surprise registered on Saul’s face and I wasn’t sure if it was because of the extent of my knowledge or because of my calmness.

“You read it?” he asked.

“The whole thing,” I answered.

The blackness in Saul’s eyes was shrinking now.

“We still need to talk; you need to understand why we didn’t tell you,” Saul persisted.

“I’m pretty sure I know that too. A couple of months ago I was living a normal life and then everything was tipped on its head and I came here, where there’s not only a ton of stuff to understand but some heavy tests and damn intrusive exams to undergo, so with all that to worry over you didn’t want to add something else into the mix. Am I right?”